Various dealers particularly in Sohrab Goth area have put on sales these trucks in the city, offering at the rate ranging between Rs600,000 and Rs1,200,000 depending on the engine and loading capacity as compared to locally assembled trucks, being offered at prices hovering between Rs1,200,000 and Rs2,600,000.
A local assembler said that these trucks of Japanese origin were arriving here via Dubai and Singapore.
Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association (PAMA) has urged the government to take note of the situation and give an impetus to the recovery of the truck industry now under way after five years of recession.
An official in a leading truck assembling company said that the import of second-hand trucks were on the rise and these vehicles were finding way into the country at 40 per cent concessional customs duty rate. In the budget 2002-03, the government has increased the customs duty on import of these trucks to 40 per cent from 30 per cent to protect the local industry.
“The arrival of these cheap rated trucks are still causing erosion in our market share and the increase in import duty has not made any impact,” he said, adding that import has been taking place since July 2000 but it has now been rising for the last three to four months.
The official was of the view that the reconstruction activities in Afghanistan could be described as one of the reasons of bringing in cheap trucks and then transferred them to the war-torn country.
These trucks, being imported as dump trucks, are mainly used as haulage trucks and passenger buses, and being a scrap at the port of origin, these trucks are polluting environment and posing serious life risk to the population, the official said.
Hinopak Motors Limited (HML), in a letter to commerce minister Abdul Razak Dawood, said import of dump trucks at concessional rates was unjustified as the local automotive industry has ample capacity and capability to produce dump trucks.
The company has also urged the Excise and Taxation Department (registration wing) to ban registration of scrap/second-hand vehicles immediately in order to encourage the local industry and stop illegal use of imported dumpers as haulage trucks and buses.
Hinopak, Ghandhara Nissan and Sindh Engineering (Mazda) are main producers of truck, providing direct and indirect jobs to more than 10,000 people. These companies also produce buses. They produce an average 1,000 units of trucks per annum.
